Royal Media Services (RMS) Chairperson, SK Macharia, has alleged that former Presidents Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta, and current President William Ruto manipulated elections to defeat opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Speaking during the burial of Colonel (Rtd) James Gitahi in Machakos, Macharia claimed that Raila Odinga won the 2007 election, but the results were altered in Kibaki’s favor.
According to Macharia, he was forcibly taken to his office and pressured to change the election outcome.
“We had complete data showing Raila won with 1.8 million votes,” he revealed. However, as the tallying continued, Kibaki’s numbers mysteriously overtook Raila’s, leading to allegations of rigging.
On December 30, 2007, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), led by Samuel Kivuitu, declared Kibaki the winner with a margin of around 232,000 votes.
This sparked post-election violence that left over 1,000 people dead and thousands displaced before Raila accepted the Prime Minister position in a power-sharing deal.
ODM Party leader Raila Odinga. Photo: Raila Odinga Source: Facebook
Regarding the 2013 election, Macharia refrained from giving details but claimed that Raila’s failure to act on key intelligence cost him the election.
In the 2017 polls, Macharia alleged that the voter register was manipulated to include names of deceased individuals.
“They took names from the death register, but without photographs. That’s how Raila was beaten,” he said.
Ahead of the 2022 election, Macharia warned Raila that the voter register had been compromised. However, Raila, confident due to his handshake with Uhuru Kenyatta, dismissed the warnings.
Macharia disclosed that four out of seven Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners, including Juliana Cherera, visited his home to view the manipulated data.
These commissioners later disputed the results announced by IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati, who declared Ruto the winner with a 233,211-vote lead.
Despite Macharia’s claims, IEBC maintains that the elections were fair, and the Supreme Court upheld Ruto’s victory.
